Thai Red Curry Chicken Soup

The other day there was a real chill in the air and as I walked the kid to the park I noticed that suddenly there are a tonne of leaves on the floor. It definitely wasn’t a shorts and flip flops day as I’d recklessly assumed. The expression, ‘Winter Is Coming’ wouldn’t get out of my head (any GOT fans??) Oh and a cold has materialised out of nowhere, the kid doesn’t even have one would you believe, so I had a sudden urge to make a warm, spicy soup for dinner. There’s something about the seasonal change from Summer (yes, that happened) to Autumn that makes me instantly want to start cooking stews, casseroles and soups, long gone are the delicious salads, sob. Also when I get a cold, I like to overdose on ginger and garlic in my evening meals, I feel like that helps fight a cold. I love Asian inspired food, it’s one of my favourites to both eat and cook. I’ve made a chicken noodle soup before, but this time I wanted something a little more spicy. In my never-ending search for great meal ideas I came across this awesome site which has loads of brilliant, easy and authentic recipes on it. It’s my favourite, go-to site when I need a quick and tasty mid week meal. And this is where I found a really simple coconut curry soup recipe. Here is my version of the recipe.

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Easy Blueberry Banana Bread

Oh. My. Goodness. This summer holiday business is insane. It’s become hugely apparent to me that during this time I can get nothing done whatsoever, apart from keeping the kid entertained, that’s it. That’s all I can manage. No housework, no admin, nada, zero, zip. The amount of times I’ve sat down to do an online food shop and been interrupted is ridiculous. I’ve literally not had the head space or brain power to put fingers to keyboard. How the heck do parents who work full time, manage their lives?! I hope everyone is surviving enjoying the one on one time with their kids. Anyone else looking forward to back to school/nursery next week? (small show of hands) Anyway, I’m easing myself back in with a simple post. Something I’ve found that has kept me and the kid busy a few times when the weather has been crap is making Banana Bread. A great time killer for a rainy afternoon. I found this recipe for blueberry banana bread which I’ve tried twice now and it’s a firm win.

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Vegetarian Lentil Ragu

Something I’m really aware of these days, is the amount of meat and fish that we eat as a family. Trying to cut back has been on my radar for a while now, it’s something that I tend to dip in and out of rather than commit to fully. However, recently I’ve re-connected with an old acquaintance on Instagram and have been following her and her family’s’ conversion to veganism with real interest. Antonia’s posts are a reminder to me to really think about what I eat. Whilst I don’t think veganism is for me right at this minute, it’s core values are things that I really would like to recognise and follow fully at some point in time. I do think it’s wrong the way animals are treated, I do believe mass farming animals contributes to our destruction of this planet, I do feel that drinking dairy milk (as adults) is a bit odd, I do feel that it’s been indoctrinated into us that we need meat in our diet, I do believe that we eat too much meat as a nation and that plant based foods are better for us. And I do believe that it would be better for our bodies all round if we cut back on our meat consumption.

Lentil Ragu

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Power Balls Recipe

No, I’m not talking about the lottery balls or any other kind of, erm, ball, I’m talking about the kind you pop in your mouth (stop it right now) Power balls are a cool little concoction, made up of dates, nuts, coconut, whatever really, and I caught onto the craze about four years ago when I discovered a recipe on an Australian blog. I made them on and off as it was only me who’d eat them as the Mr remained suspicious. To be fair, it wasn’t the best recipe that I’d found. But now these balls (LOL, sorry) are pretty much a fridge staple, mainly because at the moment I’m trying to eat well and avoid sugary snacks before we start IVF (I wont become an IVF bore, I promise). The kid even eats these too which is pretty cool although occasionally yes, she tells me they’re disgusting so you know, work in progress. Here are two really easy recipes for you to try that literally take less than twenty minutes to put together. I make a batch every other week, so I have a box full in the fridge ready to go.

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Baked Risotto with Butternut Squash & Wild Mushrooms

Now I don’t like to brag, but this is an actual life changing recipe. How many of you have stood at the stove, stirring a risotto for what has felt like an eternity? Boring. I have and because of the eternal stirring and stock adding I’ve stopped making risotto because, well, who has the time? Then I found this recipe in the Waitrose magazine and my life changed FOREVER! Okay not quite, but still it was a pretty exciting time. Who knew you could bake a risotto. Amazing.

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